Featured Miniature Bronze Ganesh...

Hi all

Came across this miniature bronze Ganesh figurine. It has plenty of detail and seems to be good quality, but i dont know if it has any age. Very small, 4cm high

 

Very cute, and nicely detailed for such a miniature.
A lot of these are sold as souvenirs in SE Asia. I suspect they are either made in Thailand or China. It is probably pretty recent.

 

I was liking him until I saw the bottom. A typical Ganesh from India would be a lost wax casting of bronze/brass. Are you sure he is metal? The saw marks on the bottom, along with the hole and the moon shaped depression, make me think it might be a resin reproduction. The light colored spots on his knee and below the head of the snake are also suspicious.

 

I would expect the technique to look more like this:


Also 4 cm high. I believe this one is mass produced by a variation on the lost wax method. A reusable mold is made, which is used to make multiple wax models. The wax models are then used in the usual process, which ends up "losing" the wax when it is melted out.

 

Someone I know is currently in Cambodia and wanted to know if I was interested in buying miniature bronzes. He sent me several pictures, all different ones, and how many would I want of each. Here is one of the pictures, you get the idea:



I just want to add that most of the 'Hindu' and 'Buddhist' bronzes we see on the forum are recently made souvenirs. Sometimes cute, like this one, often far from cute. These are not things to invest in, imo.

Maybe we should have a warning on the Support and Testing forum: "Buy them if you like a cute or not at all cute souvenir, but please don't think they have any age or are worth anything". Not that anyone is going to read it.

 

Yes, you see loads of these little ones at ethnic/import shops here in the States.

 

Thanks for all those replies and photos. I assumed mine was recently made, but i only paid pennies for it so nothing to fuss over.

It is definitely metal though.

 

It is a cute souvenir Ganesha, and paying pennies is fine.

Yes, they are always cast metal.

 

Good to hear that.